A productive February in the sun

February has been a busy month, starting new projects in the garden and getting everything ready for the next growing season. 

With our regular garden visitors, including participants from Kingfisher school and Style Acre, we've started improving infrastructure and preparing to sow seeds. 

Read on to hear about what we've been doing. 

Making seed compost. 
In preparation for our planned seed sowing in March (see our calendar here) we made our own compost. Our compost is made using mole hills, which are rich in organic matter. We learnt that they contain the same bacteria types found in the veg plot soil, so will help our seedlings to adapt when planted out. We added well rotted compost, which contains fibres and further bacteria. Finally, we mixed in ash, which retains water and has a high level of nitrogen. 

Restoring our garden shed
Our wooden shed now has a new roof! This project has been ongoing for the last few months, and will provide a great shelter for storage. We used plywood and waterproofed the roof, many thanks to Oxford Wood Recycling. 

New solar panels for a better compost toilet experience!
We're pleased to finally have received our solar panels, which are key to making our compost toilet welcoming! They will provide energy for a hot water system, meaning that even in winter using the loos will be a comfortable experience. 

Thanks to the Community Action Groups grant, and funding from the Doris Field Charitable Trust which has made this project possible.